Thursday, April 7, 2011

Letters: Michelle Rhee: Education reform huckster - Salon

Michelle Rhee: Education reform huckster

The myth that schools are best run like businesses is emphatically demolished

GENE LYONS

READ THE ARTICLE POST A LETTER ABOUT THIS ARTICLE

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 09:24 PM ET

More on Michelle's schemes

Bob Somerby runs the web site www.dailyhowler.com. About half of his writing is media criticism, and lately he has been attacking the liberal media. Much of what he says is true, but I suspect that some of it is bitterness based on the shoddy, even libelous treatment the media gave Al Gore in 1999 and 2000. Somerby and Gore were college roommates.

However, his writing on education is superb. It is his field of expertise, and like Michelle Rhee, he taught in the Baltimore public schools.

Though Gene Lyons has done a good job here, Somerby's expose of

Last Stand for Children First: Myron Miner Demands, "Leave Michelle Rhee Alone!"

Myron Miner Demands, "Leave Michelle Rhee Alone!"

by Last Stand for Children

How dare anyone out there make fun of Michelle after all she has been through.!

She lost her job, she just got married. She had a cheating scandal

Her husband turns out to be suspected of improper behavior with several young girls. All you people care about is….. readers and making money off of her.

SHE’S A HUMAN! (ah! ooh!) What you don’t realize is that Michelle is making you all this money and all you do is write a bunch of crap about her.

She hasn’t taught in years. Her group is called “Students First” for a reason because all you people want is

Free to Speak Out - Inside Higher Ed

Home - Inside Higher Ed

Free to Speak Out

April 7, 2011

A controversial professor suing his university in North Carolina won a key ruling Wednesday from a federal appeals court -- and the decision could eventually benefit faculty members at all public institutions.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the 2006 Supreme Court decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos-- which limited the free speech rights of some public employees -- does not apply to faculty members of public colleges and universities.

"Applying Garcetti to the academic work of a public university faculty member under the facts of this case could place beyond the reach of First Amendment protection many forms of public speech or service a professor engaged in during his employment. That would not appear to be what Garcetti intended, nor is it consistent with our long-standing recognition that no individual loses his ability to speak as a private citizen by virtue of public

Erase to the top? - Bites - Opinions - April 7, 2011 - Sacramento News & Review

Erase to the top?

By Cosmo Garvin
cosmog@newsreview.com
More stories by this author...

This article was published on 04.07.11.

Related stories:
Goodbye Books?
Sacramento readers, writers and book-lovers respond to the electronic migration.SN&R, 04.07.11.

Me and my Kindle
She wanted e-reader love, but must settle for just being friends. SN&R, 04.07.11.

If you haven’t already, go read Hugh Biggar and Kel Munger’s cover story on the future of reading (see “Goodbye, books?” SN&R Feature). But wait—finish this column first.

As long as there have been readers, there have been nosy government agents who want to know what we’re reading.

In the United States, we’ve been mostly successful at telling them to get lost. But the rise of e-books and online book ordering is giving the agents new opportunities to snoop.

A new bill by California state Sen. Leland Yee, Senate Bill 602, would make it harder, requiring a warrant to snoop into reader records on sites like Google Books and Amazon.com.

“We should be able to read about anything from politics to religion to health without worrying that the government might be looking over our shoulder,” said Valerie Small Navarro, with the American Civil Liberties Union of

Race to self-destruction: A history lesson for ed reformers - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Race to self-destruction: A history lesson for ed reformers

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Yong Zhao, presidential chair and associate dean for global education at the University of Oregon’s College of Education, where he also serves as the director of the Center for Advanced Technology in Education. He is a fellow of the International Academy for Education. Until December 2010, he was director of both the Center for Teaching and Technology and the U.S.-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence at Michigan State University, as well as the executive director of the Confucius Institute/Institute for Chinese Teacher Education. This appeared on his blog.

By Yong Zhao

Race to the Top, the Obama Administration’s $4.35 billion education initiative, has been touted many times by President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan as “the most meaningful education reform in a generation.” It is also been proposed as the blueprint for the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education

ASCD Inservice: Do High Stakes Have to Mean High Stress?

Do High Stakes Have to Mean High Stress? Formerly a teacher, now an administrator-in-training, Chris Canter blogs about his yearlong assistant principal internship at Fulton County Public Schools in Atlanta, Ga. As cherry, dogwood, and pear blossoms dot springtime landscapes, testing bubbles dot ...

Young Children and War Play (1987-88) From cops and robbers to G.I. Joe to the latest bloodthirsty video game, kids have been incorporating violence into playtime for generations. But has the level and graphic nature of war play increased over the years? And what effects do...

California Watch examines seismic oversight at public schools | California Watch

California Watch examines seismic oversight at public schools

by Mark Katches

Mark Katches

Tonight, 19 months after joining our staff, Corey G. Johnson finally gets his first byline at California Watch.

I hope you will agree that it was worth the wait.

At 9 p.m. Pacific Standard Time we will begin rolling out a three-part series on seismic safety in public schools called "On Shaky Ground."

It’s a project that Johnson began working on almost immediately after we gave him his laptop and a desk back in September 2009.

His first assignment was supposed to be a quick-turn anniversary piece about safety issues for the 20^thanniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake.

Johnson had just arrived from North Carolina, and we figured it would be a good, easy way to get his feet wet – and to get him that first early byline. Johnson had never been to California. But his fresh eyes began to see

Secret out-of-state donor powering pension reform group

by Chase Davis

Chase Davis

Photo by Mark Altamero

An unknown out-of-state foundation has become a substantial backer of an ambitious nonprofit group that is positioning itself at the center of the state's debate over public pensions.

Democratic consultant Marcia Fritz, who runs the nonprofit Californians for Fiscal Responsibility, first mentioned at a San Francisco forum last month that the group had received a substantial contribution from an out-of-state foundation. She said the money will be used to research several competing pension plans that are being

Incentives or grade-selling? Line blurred in Sacramento-area cases, critics say - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Incentives or grade-selling? Line blurred in Sacramento-area cases, critics say

by lrosenhall@sacbee.com (Laurel Rosenhall and Melody Gutierrez)

Schools eager to show their smarts or raise money often give students incentives to do well on tests or participate in fundraisers. Many students can earn T-shirts or toys by raising money.

Oscar Flores,left, Edgar Jimenez, Sam Kinsey and Rashaad Jackson take a quiz in math teacher Kadhir Rajagopal Algebra II class at Grant High School August 27, 2010 in Sacramento, Calif. Rajagopal constantly moves around his classroom and engages with his students as they learn. The students participated in a summer program that included extensive parent involvement. UCD partnered with the program. Parents are called when kids are late or no show. Grant High has one of the worst passage rates in the state for math on the CAHSEE for 10th graders.

Career tech turns to ratepayers | Thoughts on Public Education

Career tech turns to ratepayers
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Bill would tap new source to fund green tech academies

Posted on 4/06/11 • Categorized as Career academies, STEM, Workforce preparation

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Funding is in jeopardy for 200 of the state’s 470 partnership academies, the three-year high school programs that prepare students for jobs and college majors in a range of industries. Gov. Jerry Brown can secure the future for 45 of them and create an additional 42, all focusing on the emerging fields of green and clean technologies, if he signs SBX 1-1.

The bill, authored by Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, would pay for the academies by directing $8 million annually for five years from a fund for conservation and alternative energy uses. The fund is financed by a small surcharge ($.0003 per kilowatt-hour)

How California will be affected by a federal government shut-down

by SOURCE on APRIL 7, 2011

in: CALIFORNIA, CIVIL RIGHTS, ECONOMY, LABOR

Potential effects of shutdown

National Parks —-Likely to be closed.

Social Security —- Checks will be mailed out, although new claims may not be processed.

Border Patrol —- Deemed an essential service and will continue.

Air travel —- Air traffic control is essential; flights should not be affected.

IRS —- This agency will shut down in the middle of tax season. Tax refund checks

Why The Start Of The School Day Might Be So Important… | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“The Beauty Of Maps” The Beauty of Maps is a pretty amazing twelve part BBC series that is now available on YouTube. Thanks to Flowing Data for the tip. I’m adding the link to The Best Sites For Learning About Historic Maps.

Many New Resources On Japan Disaster Here are many new additions to Useful Updates On Japan Earthquake — Part Two : Before School Starts is a Wall Street Journal slideshow. Japan Struggles to Reopen Schools is a Wall Street Journal article (to get pass its paywall, you might have to ...

Why The Start Of The School Day Might Be So Important… I’ve previously posted about (and written more extensively in my book) research highlighting the Importance of Good Endings and offered suggestions on how to make that happen. Now comes another study focusing on the importance of…good beginnings. ...

Middleweb Revamps & Improves Their Already Great Newsletter I’ve written a fair amount about John Norton, who has been a mentor to many over the years. He’s well known for many things, including his freeMiddleweb Of Particular Interest email newsletter and his Middleweb blog. He’s just revamped his excellent ...

Jersey Jazzman: Things I Learned (For Real!) From Listening to NJ 101.5

Things I Learned (For Real!) From Listening to NJ 101.5

by Duke

So, today, I'm listening to Former NJ Education Commissioner Jim Gearhart during my week off, because there's nothing I love more than aurally delivered masochism.

And I actually learned something! Jim had on a president of one of the firefighters unions (sorry, forgot the name and the union; yeah, getting old...). He explained to Gearhart that both firefighters and police in New Jersey are not eligible for Social Security, and do not have FICA collected from their taxes.

Now, I'm a teacher, and I just finished my tax return, so I can tell you for sure that I pay FICA (Social Security tax), and I will collect a benefit when I'm eligible. But here's the thing:

The cops and the firefighters pay 8.5% of their salaries toward their pensions; teachers pay only 5.5%. BUT...

Workers at the University of Maryland say, “Don’t mourn, organize” — Emergency Rally for UMD Worker’s Rights! | Dailycensored.com

Workers at the University of Maryland say, “Don’t mourn, organize” — Emergency Rally for UMD Worker’s Rights! On March 31, the UMD student newspaper, the Diamondback, wrote an article based on an anonymous letter from a non-exempt University Employee describing the work environment on campus as a “Nazi camp” and a “plantation.” “We are made to feel like ...

US Revolution: Obama fascism is more unlawful than Bush fascism Source: Carl Herman, Examiner.com Activist Post wrote a brilliant article to explain and document how the Obama administration has escalated the unlawful policies of the Bush administration. The unlawful policies of murderous wars and fraudulent ...

Tim Donnelly: Racist or Rule of Law Man? Nationwide, Republicans have elected extremists, whose radical agenda is now becoming apparent. It should come as no surprise that the most radical of Republicans are those that garnered Tea Party support. In California, one such radical extremist is ...

Modern School: Michigan Gearing Up to Fire All Teachers

Michigan Gearing Up to Fire All Teachers

by Michael Dunn

The Michigan Education Association has been quietly holding votes on a resolution to authorize a series of job actions including informational picketing, contacting representatives and a state-wide work stoppage, according to mlive.com. Naked Empire reports that MEA President Iris Salters sent out a letter requesting locals to delay major purchases and to start saving enough to have reserves for at least two months. The resolution is in response to funding cuts of $715 per student and the financial martial law bill that would allow the governor to shred teacher contracts and place districts under the control of CEOs.

Teacher strikes are illegal under Michigan law. Public Act 112, enacted in 1994, stipulates that teachers be fined a day’s pay for each day they refuse to work. However, state representative Paul Scott has introduced additional legislation that would fine the union if it were to go on strike and potentially strip teachers of their credentials. The latter, of course, is a moronic threat since, if it were carried out, Michigan would have virtually no qualified

Dr. Cornel West:"Obama becoming puppet of Wall St Oligarchs"

YouTube - Dr. Cornel West:"Obama becoming puppet of Wall St Oligarchs": ""

Democurmudgeon: in the Morning

Democurmudgeon: Walker's not making Republicans look good for 2012.

Walker's not making Republicans look good for 2012. Rachel Maddow points out the Walker spawned Democratic movement back sanity in this piece about Kloppenburg and Chris Abele's big win over conservative extremist Jeff Stone. I love Gov. Walker's excuses for the Republican losses.

Rep. Ryan's Lying Again, with the Courage and Conviction that has captured the Imagination of a Nation. Rachel Maddow takes a look at all the things I missed after I got hopelessly lost in the details of Paul Ryan's outrageously irresponsible inhumane plan.

Kloppenburg Squeaker Big News. State Sen. Chris Larson chimes in... Cenk Uygur talk's the Kloppenburg win with State Sen. Chris Larson:

Democrats can't survive as a party with messaging this bad!! *Really Bad Messaging* * * * * * * * * Here's MSNBC's Cenk Uygur on the totally clueless beltway Democrats. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't unaware of the labor movement and the middle class's fight to stay alive?

Non-partisan judicial election? A lie. Take the following unintended admission of politicizing the judicial branch by Conservatives. We've got an activist conservative judge problem...big time. If this last Supreme Court election didn’t make if perfectly clear how partisan the judicial branch is now, hell Justice David Prosser was a former Republican speaker of the assembly, then ...

Taxing The Richest 1% An Additional 1% Could Mean $2.5 billion For Education, Services | California Progress Report

Taxing The Richest 1% An Additional 1% Could Mean $2.5 billion For Education, Services

by megan

By Josh Pechthalt
California Federation of Teachers

The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) recently released new polling results showing 78% of voters support increasing income taxes on the top 1% of Californians by 1%. Such a tax would return the richest Californians close to the rate they paid in the mid-1990s, when Pete Wilson was Governor. CFT is calling for the progressive tax to be part of a package to resolve California’s budget crisis.

Union thugs. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Union thugs.

by Fred Klonsky

Headline: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie Calls His State’s Teachers Union ‘Political Thugs’

Daily Kos: Why Pay Congress?

Why Pay Congress?

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

If a high school student council refused to approve a budget so that student activities had to be canceled — even as student leaders continued to pay themselves stipends — a school board would probably cancel the entire experiment in student democracy. But I can’t imagine high school students acting so immature.

The quote, and the title for this post I have appropriated, are both from Nicholas Kristof and this New York Times column In a sense the quote encapsulates what many Americans will be feeling if Congress shuts down the government - and thus more of the nation than most people realize - come the end of the day Friday. Kristof also uses the words of someone else to put this in perspective:

As the humorist Andy Borowitz wrote in a Twitter message: “That’s like eliminating the fire dept & sending checks to the arsonists.”

Kristof's is one of two important columns on the budget issue in today's papers that people should read. The other, by Matt Miller of the Center for American Progress, is called Ryan v. Obama - Is that all there is?

LAUSD and the Office of Administrative Hearings - Just Us Without Justice ( LAUSD y la Audiencia Administrativa - Sólo nosotros sin Justicia) - Perdaily.com

LAUSD and the Office of Administrative Hearings - Just Us Without Justice ( LAUSD y la Audiencia Administrativa - Sólo nosotros sin Justicia)

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)

From the first day of this farce, the judge and two retired teacher were given LAUSD's book of "evidence" against Ms. Jackson, even before the judge decided as to whether it was admissible or not. Even after the judge had ruled that some document could not come in or other documents of questionable origin could, there was no attempt made to limit what access these two retired teachers would have to "the evidence" presented by LAUSD. While a professional judge might be able to limit his ultimate deliberation to admissible evidence, one

Caught in the Whirlwind « InterACT

Caught in the Whirlwind

by Martha Infante

A teacher living in the era of education reform may survive, but it will not be unscathed. The current school year has unleashed a barrage of attacks on everything a classroom teacher values and stands for. This blitzkrieg has caused me to hunker down and get centered before daring to pick up the pen (hit the keyboard?) again.

Budget Cuts-A dramatic reduction in counseling, clerical, and custodial staff has left my school with a skeleton crew of employees to meet the needs of our 2,100 students. Classrooms go unswept, hallways and stairwells are acquiring an odd smell, teachers are hoarding supplies, and to top it off, hot food in the cafeteria is a rarity. It’s not safe to have 10 people monitoring

Accountable for What? « Failing Schools

Accountable for What?

APRIL 7, 2011

by Sabrina

Recently, I had a chance to catch up with a former colleague of mine after school, in her classroom. As often happens when teachers chat, we tried valiantly not to talk about school, but gave up after about five minutes.

“I just saw that movie, Waiting for ‘Superman’. I’d been so excited about it, thinking that it was such a great opportunity for education to finally going to get the attention it deserves. I left with a stomachache.”

(I’m sure you can picture me nodding in agreement.)

She continued, “It was just so clueless.” I followed her eyes around her classroom, as she glanced over the different areas of her classroom– visually tallying her to-do list, as I often do. “I mean

NYC Educator: We Can't Help You If You're Not Here

We Can't Help You If You're Not Here

by Miss Eyre

I wish that this article from WNYC about New York's large (and possibly growing) drop-out population had been more detailed, and that it had addressed the problem it discusses more deeply. The issue, as I see it, is not only school drop-outs; rather, it's also the difficulty of working with kids who only pop into school once or twice a week. Chronic absenteeism that doesn't quite reach the definition of truancy is one of the biggest challenges we face as urban teachers.

My school stresses the importance of trying to get these kids into school regularly and then catching them up as quickly as possible. Fine advice, but for children and families who have not internalized the urgency that the situation entails, anything we can do as teachers feels like a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. These are not children